GM Showers Kansas City With One Of Its Largest Factory Investments Ever

General Motors says it will spend $600 million to upgrade its Fairfax assembly plant near Kansas City, adding new systems and equipment that will make it one of the cleanest and most efficient automotive factories in the world.

Among the improvements is a new 450,000 square-foot state-of the-art paint shop that will consume dramatically less energy and water, resulting in an estimated 50 percent reduction in energy use per vehicle, GM said. It will also introduce new processes for getting paint into cavities where corrosion can begin and new tub ovens that use less natural gas and electricity. GM will also install new metal stamping equipment in Fairfax that will enhance quality and reduce waste through greater accuracy.

"When we’re done you can say with pride that you work in one of the crown jewels of GM’s global manufacturing system," said Chief Executive Dan Akerson, who traveled to Kansas City Monday to deliver the news to plant workers.

It is one of GM’s largest plant investments ever, and builds on nearly $2 billion invested in Fairfax in the last decade. The factory produces the Chevrolet Malibu and the Buick LaCrosse. The investment represents a substantial chunk of a commitment GM made earlier this year to invest $1.5 billion in its North American facilities in 2013.

Construction at the 3.2-million-square-foot plant will begin later this year and is expected to take about two years to complete. The paint shop will occupy a new building at the plant, so vehicle production schedules will not be affected. Fairfax currently operates around the clock, employing about 4,000 hourly and salaried workers.

The paint shop is the most expensive, and most polluting, aspect of any automotive factory, and is often the source of production bottlenecks.